Television may be entering a place of diminishing returns for live televised musicals. NBC’s “Hairspray Live!” pulled in a 2.3 rating in the advertiser-coveted 18-49 demographic and 8.92 million total viewers according to Nielsen’s preliminary ratings for Wednesday night.
Here’s how that stacks up against the live-same-day ratings for other televised live musicals:
- “The Sound of Music Live!” (aired Dec. 5, 2013 on NBC): 4.6, 18.62 million
- “Peter Pan Live!” (aired Dec. 4, 2014 on NBC): 2.4, 9.21 million
- “The Wiz Live!” (aired Dec. 3, 2015 on NBC): 3.4, 11.5 million
- “Grease: Live” (aired Jan. 31, 2016 on Fox): 4.3, 12.18 million
Perhaps of note is the competition NBC’s musicals faced. The biggest obstacles on the channel guide for “Hairspray” were a waning “Empire” (2.5 in the demo, 7 million viewers, a new series low) and the 33rd edition of “Survivor” (1.7 in the demo, 8.39 million viewers). “The Sound of Music” and “Peter Pan” both aired against Thursday Night Football games that were running only on NFL Network, but “The Wiz” had to contend with a tight Packers-Lions matchup that aired on CBS. On the bright side, “Hairspray” pulled in an average 2.1 rating in the 18-34 demographic, a feat not often seen with live ratings.
NBC has committed to making the format an annual tradition, regardless of ratings. Next year’s musical installment will be “Bye Bye Birdie,” starring Jennifer Lopez, and the network has set a live televised production of Aaron Sorkin’s “A Few Good Men.”
